Cardinal puts Africa's hope for the future in education

October 17, 2011

Not only are millions of lives at risk in the Horn of Africa due to hunger and drought, those who escape the famine then risk becoming a lost generation due to a severe lack of stability, education and resources, said a top Vatican official.

"The millions of displaced people on the move now in an effort to survive will tomorrow become refugees, illegal immigrants, without a nation, without a home, work and a community," said Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

"A whole generation risks being lost," he said during a Vatican news conference Oct. 7.

The only way to guarantee a future after the humanitarian crisis abates, he said, is to create schools where skills, communities and futures are built.

The cardinal launched an appeal for a school to be built in every village.